Why e-books?

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Actually, eBooks do take physical storage space. A flash drive, a hard drive, a CD, a DVD, blu-ray, Reader, phone, tablet, etc are all physical. You have to have someplace to store your eBooks. And that place is physical.

Once one has the appropriate device, 5,000 e-books can take up no more physical space than one e-book. If I showed someone my kindle in a turned off state, they couldn't tell by looking, how many it contained. The device is physical, but its contents are not.

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by leebase

Tried to read a book on my phone the firs time "just to try it". Became instantly hooked.

Same things everyone else is saying. They take up no space. I always have them with me. I can set the font size. Easy to acquire new books (no trip to the book store/library).

Easier on the eyes (yes...I think so, even though I read on phones and tablets). Self lit so I don't bother my wife with a lamp on in the bedroom at night.

I have become more and more accustomed (read: Hooked) to reading on my phone. And with my 128 gB card inserted, I can stick all the books imaginable on it. I still love my e-ink readers, but I'm loving the joy of travelling light.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by Conan46

For an author I know around $5 is a price I won't balk at, and I will go as high as $9.99 if it is a 'must-have' book, but that's my cut off for even well known authors. For unknown authors I must admit I don't buy many, and their best bet is to offer me a free copy and see if they can hook my interest. I'm wary of reviews as they have seldom paid off in the past. I mostly stick to known authors and find myself re-reading known authors and familiar books most of the time now.

I agree with you on price, though even $9.99 would be very rare. In fact I can't recall paying anywhere near that since before Agency. I may be prepared to pay this much for the latest ebook from a handful of authors I love, but of course the Big 5 want $14.99.

I do give unknown authors a chance if their book is in a genre I like, the blurb hooks me and a sample shows the writing is not appalling. Usually through KU or a free book initially. I too am wary of reviews, particularly those whice give top ratings and are extravagant in their praise. But reviews have never been that reliable in my view. Unless you are lucky enough to find a reviewer whose taste in books is similar to your own I have always found them of limited use at best.

Occasionally I will re-read one of my favourites but there are just so many good new books and authors that this does not now happen that often.

[disconnected]

Originally Posted by barryem

Someone posted a picture a while back of woman putting her Kindle on her bookshelf which was filled with Kindles.

Of course ebooks take up space. A Kindle with 3000 ebooks on board is almost half the size of a smallish paperback. Memory cards, massive things that they are, are 2 or 3 times thicker than a postage stamp. I keep my books on a portable hard drive which is about 3" by 2" and nearly 1/2" thick. That's a huge amount of space for only 78,000 books. Of course my backup is on a thumb drive the size of a thumbnail.

Barry

All of my ereaders together would still only need a small shelf. I could add all of the extra covers I've bought over the years but that might be embarrassing.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by darryl

And once an ebook is produced there are virtually no costs in keeping it available.

The costs associated with keeping ebooks "in print" are substantial. Server farms that provide storefronts and downloads have substantial up-front costs and on-going costs as equipment is replaced and upgraded. They require electricity for power and cooling. The buildings which house them have leases and property taxes. The programmers who write and improve the storefront software have salaries to be paid. So do the QA people who test that software and the system administrators who deploy the software and maintain the infrastructure.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ratinox

The costs associated with keeping ebooks "in print" are substantial. Server farms that provide storefronts and downloads have substantial up-front costs and on-going costs as equipment is replaced and upgraded. They require electricity for power and cooling. The buildings which house them have leases and property taxes. The programmers who write and improve the storefront software have salaries to be paid. So do the QA people who test that software and the system administrators who deploy the software and maintain the infrastructure.

All true, but once you have your data centre up and running, the cost difference between having "X" books available and "X+1" books is pretty minimal.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ratinox

The costs associated with keeping ebooks "in print" are substantial. Server farms that provide storefronts and downloads have substantial up-front costs and on-going costs as equipment is replaced and upgraded. They require electricity for power and cooling. The buildings which house them have leases and property taxes. The programmers who write and improve the storefront software have salaries to be paid. So do the QA people who test that software and the system administrators who deploy the software and maintain the infrastructure.

The cost to maintaining an ebook store is pretty minimal compared to the cost of maintaining 2000 Barnes and Noble brick and mortar stores.

I suspect that the cost of the ebook section of Amazon's overall online store is pretty minimal. For that matter, the cost of maintaining a 1M+ hit per day website is a lot less than you might think. It doesn't actually require a huge data center.

[Conan46]

I'm old enough that I am still astounded that many thousands of ebooks can be stored on a micro sd card the size of my fingernail and easily carried about anywhere. Amazing times we live in.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I suspect that the cost of the ebook section of Amazon's overall online store is pretty minimal.

If the costs really were minimal then ebooks would be almost pure profit. Yet every player in the industry struggles. Yes, even Amazon, which posted in the black for the first time in 2015. Peanut Press went bankrupt. Amazon acquired (and dismantled) MobiPocket. Sony sold off their ebook business to Kobo.

For that matter, the cost of maintaining a 1M+ hit per day website is a lot less than you might think. It doesn't actually require a huge data center.

You are technically correct: running a 1M+ hit per day web site isn't expensive. But I'm not talking about running a 1M+ hit per day web site. I'm talking about running a profitable business.

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by barryem

Still there are a lot more now than just a few years ago.

What I've been noticing, is that PD material that Google was offering gratis, is not longer available. What is worse, is that that PD material that Google no longer offers, is also slowly being pulled from Internet Archive. Fortunately, IA usually has the same book from two or three sources, so even though the version that was on Google is not available, another version is available.

Amber

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Fiat_Lux

What I've been noticing, is that PD material that Google was offering gratis, is not longer available. What is worse, is that that PD material that Google no longer offers, is also slowly being pulled from Internet Archive.

Can you give an example, please?

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

It seems to be that the works of Frank Yerby and so many other forgotten writers likely aren't available because the rights holders just can't be bothered.

Gottfrid, Frederick, & Peter notwithstanding, it is more probable is that the cost of locating, and verifying who the legitimate rights holder is, is higher than the projected revenue of those ebooks.

Amber

[ottdmk]

Originally Posted by Conan46

I'm old enough that I am still astounded that many thousands of ebooks can be stored on a micro sd card the size of my fingernail and easily carried about anywhere. Amazing times we live in.

Same here. Although it's on a smaller scale with me. I'm amazed I have a device that I enjoy reading on as much as I've loved physical books, and I can have more books on there than I can possibly read during a three week vacation!

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ratinox

If the costs really were minimal then ebooks would be almost pure profit. Yet every player in the industry struggles. Yes, even Amazon, which posted in the black for the first time in 2015. Peanut Press went bankrupt. Amazon acquired (and dismantled) MobiPocket. Sony sold off their ebook business to Kobo.


You are technically correct: running a 1M+ hit per day web site isn't expensive. But I'm not talking about running a 1M+ hit per day web site. I'm talking about running a profitable business.

I'm talking about running a profitable business. That's what I do for a living.

The primary issue for ebook stores is Amazon and Apple. They control the vast majority of the ebook market in the US. It's pretty hard to steal customers from Amazon. You will never be able to beat them on price.

The next issue is inventory. As far as selection goes, there is Amazon and everyone else. Developing the necessary contracts with all those publishers and bringing in the backlist authors is a very difficult task.

Last is giving people a reason to use you rather than Amazon or Apple. People can buy books from Amazon or Apple directly from their eReader and have them automatically show up. Pretty hard to beat that. You need a major difference maker.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by darryl

But reviews have never been that reliable in my view. Unless you are lucky enough to find a reviewer whose taste in books is similar to your own I have always found them of limited use at best.

I don't follow any particular reviewer. If a book if interesting enough, I'll skim the reviews ignoring any 5 star 'great book' or 1 star 'this book sucks' review. In general, I do find reviews to be pretty helpful. Of course, it could just be that I don't have the highest standards